A REMARKABLE TRIAL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8106, 8 October 1904, Page 4

A REMARKABLE TRIAL.

"Memories 'of one of the most remarkable trials of the last ten years — a trial that brought disgrace and imprisonment upon the scion of a noble house — are recalled," says the London Daily Mail, "by the announcement that' Miss Pauline Astor, only daughter of William Waldorf Astor, a well-known millionaire, is to wed Captain Herbert Spencer-Clay, formerly of the Life Guards. Nearly seven years ago, in December, 1897, Captain SpencerClay, then 22 years old, a subaltern in the Guards, leaped to fame as defendant in an action brought by the late Samuel . Lewis, a well-known West End money-lender, to recover the sum of £11,113 alleged' to be due on two promissory notes bearing the young man's signature. The defendant resisted the claim, declaring that if he signed the notes he I was tricked into doing so by his consig- | natory, Lord William Nevil, son of the Marquis of Abergavenny. His story was an amazing one. Lord William had ask- < ed him to affix his signature to documents' which he was not allowed to read. They were covered by a sheet of paper, in which holes were cut at places where the signatures wero wanted. Lord William gaye 1 his word of honor that all the signatures were required upon a single document, a power of attorney in connection with a Eainful trial then pending and affecting is lordship's family. Believing the word of a friend he had long known, the young officer signed. The jury found that the signatures had been obtained by false representations, and judgment was given for the defendant. The next step in this remarkable case was the arrest of Lord William NeviH, who, in February, 1888, was sentenced to five years' penal servitude. On his release, he published a volume of prison experiences and reflection* which attracted considerable attention. ' ' ' .